my own humble story began when my dreads were just babies and i volunteered to help out with philadelphia youth at risk, a program that forced rival gangs to learn to get along.at 1st i only volunteered to help get them ready to go on theyre trip, which meant searching theyre belonings for drugs and weapons, that sort of thing, but they then asked if i would join them for the 10 day adventure. i had nothing better to do so signed on as security.we began by building a rops copurse and challenge course, while the kids underwentr extensive counceling that broke down theyre varriors in a hurry\each kid having lost freinds to gang warfar and drugs.we then tied rival gang members together forcing them to rely on eachother under extreme circumstances , like 60 feet in the air having 2 ropes from 1 tree to 2 others forming a v they had to hold eachothers hands leaning into eachothjer inching farther and farther out so they were relying on eachother to not fallto see rival gangs who days before were out to kill eachother breaking down into tears crying saying "dont let me fall" and " i got you i wont let you fall" was magicalat the end of the 10 days after riots (truth day a riot was expected) and alotta destruction and craziness on the last day they wrre all in tears hugging me and eachother so thankful for the changesand even years later ifd run into some who raved about how much better they were doing.thats 1 storythis next onewhen the republican convention rolled into philly during bushes 1st fiasco something ecven more incredible came to my neighbourhood3 blocks from me was a neighbourhood known as the bottoms, or the gutthis area was bombed by sickness, drugs and alcahol violence prostitution rape murder you name itlet just say if you went there be glad if the 10 year olds threw rocks at you ajnd didn't pull a gun instead.that was what it was like up untill the day these guys arived so along comes everybodies kitchen serving over 3000 meals a day, not soup kitchen crap, the best food you ever had (almost all vegatarian)ontop of that they gave away 2 vanloads of produce every other day (a ton or so)they built an adobe oven in the middle of a giant empty lot, buillt a couple garden beds too we had drumming and entertainment long into the night, but the biggest thing was..love without fearin days suspicion changed to excitementkids put down theyre guns and rocks and picked up knives to chop veggies insteadthe drugs respectfully inched away till eventualy they were out of sight around the cornerafter a few months the kitchen moved on, (it has fed people all over north and south america for about 20 years now, officialy registered to "everybody" nobody is in charge) when the bus moved on i wanted to keep something going thereme and a mentaly challened guy from the hood talked about our own kitchen but without the support vehicles couldnt do much. a few more people become interested and the idea of lots of love was born(hamdiya who just joined here was there the day we came up with the name)lots of love was just what it sounded likewe took over every empty lot there, and the last 3 still standing houses on the block and creatted the lots of love gardenthe only open garden in the city (no gates no locks no assigned plots, anyone was welcome to garden at any time)hundreds of kids whos fathers had died to drugs, who were withdrawn and antosocial came out and blossommed, became amazing kids full of life and love, running out to hug you as soon as you came out, theyd do crafts garden, do talent shows, wed doo tutoring, take them on many field tripsthey were excited about life, (our annual holloween garden bash would bring in about 5000 kids from 4 states)it wasnt just the kids who changed thoughthe deallers and addicts alike made theyre own garden, with horsehoe pitpeople came from all over the country to camp in the garden, some in tents, some sleeping under the starsremember,,this was the center of cracktown.. but now its so safe and serene i had taken dates there on 1st dates to just sit in the garden around a fire..it was peaceful, even romanticrandom strangers added to it, a cab driver from jamaica, a trucker from greece, an unknown artist who hung art on tuhe fences at 5 am when noone was there (took 4 years to figure out who was doing that)glued to a fence post wss a fortune cookie fortune that said " love is so close you can taste it"there was a picnic table, that somehow always had food on itif not full meals at least fruite and a loaf of bread..besides being safe enough to camp in (and having every single person in a 5 block radios watch out for you and make sure u had everything u needed) you could leave stuff there for weeks..expensive things like my drum, like garden equip and lawnmowers and nobody ever would touch it(before that they would break into houses to steal the plumbing and wiring)we wrre protected..by the theives themselvesin 10 years i never locked my door oncein fact i felt safer with it unlockedbeing a dread with hair that dragged in the dirt, always wearring ripped up shirts i still got massive respect, not only from the deallersbut the cops as wellevery cop around in the district was on a 1st name bassis with meoften cops would drop by to ask "have you seen john today" (the luetenint)or they would smile and wave as they went byjohn the luetenent had fgiven us a door for the (technicaly ilegal) adobe oven and brought veggies from his garden to cook for peoplewhile trying to get the last 3 houses legaly to open a community arts centerwe started a non proffit i was on the board of (now i maybe the only remaining board member if it still exists) during this time i had many meetings with church leaders, city council reps, the mayor, congressmen, wealthy members of the arts community and more.i only mention this because.. dreads dont earn you disrespect unless your actions also earn you disrespectif your actions are desserving of resprect you will gain great respect regardless of your dreadsim tired so tomoro i'll post on some of my personal dready heros who take active rols in creatting better communities for all
--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
updated by @soaring-eagle: 08/07/18 03:59:51PM
